Effects of Receiving Pain-Related Support on Psychological Well-Being: The Moderating Roles of Emotional Responses to Support

Objectives: We investigated whether receiving greater pain-related instrumental support is associated with poorer psychological well-being among chronic pain patients who report less positive (e.g., grateful) or more negative (e.g., angry) emotional responses to support. Methods: We conducted regression analyses, utilizing data from two waves of interviews with 152 knee osteoarthritis patients. Three indicators of psychological well-being were examined: depressive symptoms, positive affect, and negative affect. Results: Receiving greater support was associated with poorer psychological well-being at baseline, as well as higher depressive symptoms and negative affect at the 18-month follow-up, only among patients with low positive emotional responses to support. Furthermore, receiving greater support was related to poorer psychological well-being at baseline only among patients with high negative emotional responses to support. Discussion: Care recipients’ less positive emotional responses to support may be a risk factor for poorer psychological well-being in both the short- and long-term, when receiving greater support.